Express course on how to eat like an Italian, Lesson 2
Lesson 2: know our preserves
In Italy we love savoury preserves: olives, artichokes, peppers, mushroom, tuna, anchovies, sauces for pasta… We have a wide range of preserved food that we add to our meal almost daily.
Best preserves are made with genuine, healthy, ripe ingredients, treated and preserved only with natural agents, like vinegar an/or oil and nothing artificial added, like the San Lorenzo preserves!
When do we eat them? Often as appetizers, paired with cured meat or fresh buffalo mozzarella, but we can have them even as side dishes, heated over a low fire or straight from the jar.
Imagine a hot summer afternoon, cicadas all around, a little fresh air only under the trees where your dining table is… What’s best then is eating something fresh, that can go from a nice salad with some olives, some cured meat with a side dish of preserved onions, sun-dried tomatoes, chilli peppers filled with anchovies and capers, and maybe roasted peppers or porcini? And why not some preserved fish? And this will make a complete meal, varied and perfectly tasty! A perfect Italian meal…
Then at night, when it’s fresher, put some water to boil, add pasta (now that you know what to do with it) and once cooked, dress it with one of our sauces. Then, again, a perfect Italian meal!
And now you are on the right trail to eat like an Italian, for the rest of your life! 
